I freaking LOVE this dress. It’s the ruffle sleeve cotton dress from eShakti, and I love everything about it. The color? Perfect. The fit? Perfect. The length? Perfect. I love it so much that the first thing I did after I tried it on was order another one just like it in black. One of these days, I’ll write a post about how much I love eShakti and why. In the meantime, just know that I really, really love eShakti.

It’s a pretty red red, so to calm it down for work, I reverted to type and wore it with a dark gray cardigan.

Cardigan is from Old Navy, tights are from Target, and shoes are the ever-present Born Mary Janes. The necklace is a pendant I found on clearance at Michaels.

Eyeshadow is Heist by Urban Decay. It’s a matte mauvey-taupe, but it looks more like a straight taupe on me. It’s very versatile and I love it. Eyeliner is Stray Dog, also by Urban Decay and available exclusively in the 15th anniversary 24/7 eyeliner set. It’s a shimmery, grayish/silvery taupe. I mentioned in an earlier post that it’s almost a duochrome, and the above photo shows this aspect of it pretty well; it’s definitely taupey-brown when seen from an angle, but head on, the shimmery grayish-silver aspect dominates. Very interesting, and very pretty. Incidentally, Urban Decay’s eyeliners are called “24/7” for a reason–these photos were taken about 9 1/2 hours after I applied my makeup. Not bad, eh?

And finally … silly pictures. Watch out, I’m SMILING in some of them!

Aaaaaand a WTF picture.

I did NOT do this on purpose. I opened up this photo in Photoshop and then went to eat dinner, and when I came back and woke my laptop up … I found this. Not only is it negative, but I am apparently throwing up gang signs. Represent!

I felt like wearing really pale eye makeup today. And wouldn’t you know? Urban Decay, in their infinite wisdom, included a super-pale shade in the 15th anniversary 24/7 eyeliner set, which I am nowhere NEAR done playing with yet.

Behold … Midnight Cowboy!

(Photos were taken in indirect natural light, direct sun, and with the flash, respectively.)

You may know Midnight Cowboy as Urban Decay’s notorious glitterbomb of an eyeshadow. Their website claims that it’s their best seller, which I find hard to believe, considering how many complaints I’ve read online about the shade’s masses of chunky glitter and endless fallout. My patience for glitter decreases more and more with each passing year, so I’ve never even considered purchasing Midnight Cowboy in eyeshadow form.

However.

The eyeliner version is GORGEOUS, and right up my alley. It’s a pale, warm, peachy champagne color. It’s got some sparkle to it, but it’s not overwhelming. And I didn’t have to wipe glitter off my face once during the day, which is more than I can say for some of UD’s other glittery liners (*cough*Crash*cough*). I was so impressed, in fact, that I may or may not have purchased the 24/7 shadow pencil in Midnight Cowboy today. (Also, in Sin. Also, Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin. What? I’m going through a champagne phase! And we’ve already established that I have no self control!)

In keeping with the pale theme, I wore Midnight Cowboy with Sellout eyeshadow (touted on the UD website as “Midnight Cowboy without the glitter”), just a bit of Toasted eyeshadow in the crease, and DiorShow mascara.

Click this next one to embiggen.

Unfortunately, none of my full-face shots came out very well. They never do when I take them at the end of the day! But this next one gives some indication of why I like this kind of look–it brightens up my eyes in a very subtle way.

So, yes. Midnight Cowboy 24/7 eyeliner is YET ANOTHER of my new favorite things. (Interesting how very many “new favorite things” I have acquired since purchasing the 24/7 set. Hmmm … I wonder if there’s a connection … )

To conclude, here is my “WTF?” photo of the day. I don’t know what happened here. But it was weird.

If you hadn’t guessed, I’m referring to Perversion, the new super-black eyeliner from Urban Decay that’s available exclusively in the 15th anniversary 24/7 set. This shade is one of the reasons I folded like a house of cards the instant the set became available online. And let me just tell you … it’s pretty goddamn black.

But wait! you’re saying. Doesn’t Urban Decay already have a perfectly swell black eyeliner? Well, yes. Zero is indeed a damn fine black. Not to mention that if you’re anything like me, you probably already have at least three or four of them floating around, given that UD seems to include them in pretty much every palette, set, or kit they sell.

However. Perversion takes black to a whole new level. And here’s the photographic evidence! Zero on the left, Perversion on the right.

Indirect indoor light:

Overcast outdoor light:

Flash:

Zero is nice, but Perversion is NUTS. Velvety, matte, and very, very black. If you’re a black eyeliner fiend, it’s well worth seeking out. Maybe not worth buying the whole set for if you won’t use the other 14 shades, but at least worth trying to hunt down on eBay someday. There are plenty of other excellent blacks out there (check out the massive black eyeliner comparison post on Temptalia, or listen to Jette wax rhapsodic about MAC Smolder). But if you love love love black eyeliner, this one’s well worth looking into.

So, how does it look on? DRAMATIC. If this eyeliner had been available when I was in high school, I’d have peed my safety-pin-festooned pants.

Being the boring, elderly, office-working neutral-makeup-wearer that I am, the first thing I did once I got my Urban Decay 15-year anniversary 24/7 eyeliner set home was start playing with the browns. And friends … I have fallen deeply, madly in love with one of them.

But before I get into that, let’s look at all the brown (or brownish) Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners I own, shall we? From left to right, we have Whiskey, Bourbon, Corrupt, Stray Dog, and Underground. I left most of these photos enormous, so click them for the full effect. In direct sun:

In indirect indoor light:

And a flash photo for good measure:

Please note that only the middle three liners in these photos–Bourbon, Corrupt, and Stray Dog–are included in the 15th anniversary set. Please also note that only Bourbon and Underground are currently available individually. I got Whiskey as one half of the dual-ended pencil included with the Naked palette, and the only other place I’ve seen it is on Sephora as half of a duo.

I’m pretty impressed with all of these shades. Whiskey is a gorgeous, mid-toned, warm brown, and I’d love to have it in a full-sized pencil. Bourbon looks essentially the same as Whiskey, but with gold sparkle. Let’s skip over Corrupt, because I have a lot to say about it. Stray Dog is a really interesting, unusual color. It’s a brownish taupe with a definite gray tone to it–almost a duochrome effect. It looks taupey-brown straight on, but when you see it from an angle, the gray takes over. Very unique. And we all know my feelings on Underground, which is to say I LOVE IT.

Corrupt is pretty much my new favorite thing in the world. Christine from Temptalia describes it as a “dark chocolate brown with warm amber undertones,” and Urban Decay’s website calls it a “dark metallic brown w/silver sparkle.” Both of these descriptions are technically accurate, but I don’t think they really do it justice. It’s a fairly dark brown, definitely darker than Whiskey and Bourbon, and it has a unique reddish-coppery tone. This aspect of it is most obvious in the flash photo above, and it gives it an almost eggplant-y sheen in some light. The sparkle is noticeable, but not obtrusive or glittery. I love the way Corrupt looks with my eyes. Paging Dr. Love! Paging Dr. I.M.N. Love! Sigh.

I wore it to the grocery store today. Prepare yourself for THE GIANT EYEBALLS OF DOOOOOOOM!

I wanted to emphasize the liner, so I wore it with a really pale eyeshadow and mascara, and that was pretty much it. Again, these photos are all pretty huge, so click away!

Details:

UDPP Eden

MAC eyeshadow in Bisque (which, it turns out, is EXACTLY the color of my eyelids)

UD 24/7 eyeliner in Corrupt on upper lids

Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara in Excessive Black

NYX brow powder in Brown

UD lipstick in Wicked (I got this as part of a “Beauty in a Box” set from Sephora, and I didn’t expect to like it at all. But it’s actually quite pretty and unobtrusive. Score!)

So, to conclude: Corrupt is just gorgeous. It surprised the hell out of me–the one I was expecting to go nuts over was Stray Dog–and I really, really wish it were available individually and permanently. What do you think? Like it? Need it? Don’t care? Have sworn allegiance to another brown eyeliner already?

1. Make it be warmer outside. True, it’s warming up a little bit, and true, it rarely gets what I’d call “cold” here. However, according to the cat, it is cold, especially in the evenings. So cold that it is apparently time once again for her to wheedle her little cat self onto or inside of my sleeping bag at every available opportunity.

I was sitting on the couch last night, knitting, as usual. I had the sleeping bag over my lap (I use it instead of a blanket sometimes because it has a temperature rating of 15 degrees F and is therefore super warm) with the closed-up bottom part on the floor. I felt some activity and heard some rustling down there …

so I got up and investigated.

OK, CAT. WE GET THE POINT. IT IS CHILLY. You’d think for a cat from Colorado she’d be a little hardier than this. But, having lived here for almost 7 years, she is apparently a thin-blooded Californian weenie now. (I kind of am too. And the Mister totally is–he bumbles around in shorts and a t-shirt and then has the nerve to complain that he’s cold–but he was born and raised here, so he has an excuse.)

2. Cook food. We’re having Thanksgiving dinner again. This will be our third Thanksgiving dinner in as many months. I can’t wait.

3. Lock myself in the bathroom and emerge several hours later with raw, bleedy, swollen eyelids.

My Urban Decay 24/7 set arrived in the mail today. I’m not ashamed to say that I opened it immediately, at work, and commenced drawing on myself. What? Casual Friday! Don’t judge me!

Anyway, having this in my possession makes me feel like

So I plan to spend a lot of time playing with it this weekend.

Yes, folks, those are my plans. That’s the kind of glamorous, sexy, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants existence we live here at Principessa Headquarters. Oh! And don’t let me forget the grocery shopping that will also happen this weekend! Try to keep your jealousy down to a simmer.

This post was really intended for yesterday. But then life intervened in the form of an ear infection for the Mister, a three-hour wait in urgent care, and another hour or so spent driving and filling prescriptions. He has learned a valuable lesson about, as the doctor put it, “not jamming shit in his ears.” Q-Tips are for EXTERNAL USE ONLY, people. Take it from us.

So after the trials and tribulations and craptastic sleep of yesterday, I thought I would take a little time today to play with my Christmas makeup some more. And what colors did I gravitate toward? Why, purples, of course!

I can’t help it! I’m exceedingly fond of purples! Especially pale, lilac-y purples like the ones I used today.

Products!

UDPP in Eden

MAC Digit all over lids

Urban Decay Purple Haze (the regular one, not the matte one … why they have two shadows with the same name, I’ll never understand) in crease

MAC Dazzlelight to highlight

UD 24/7 eyeliner in Rockstar on upper lids

Tarte multiplEYE Extend 3 mascara

Lorac Multiplex lip gloss in 3D

The mascara and the gloss came as part of a sampler thingy I got as a special offer from Sephora. I really like both of them. The mascara claims to be “clinically proven” to enhance lashes, and while I can’t confirm that, it does lengthen and thicken quite dramatically. I’m pretty impressed with it. And the gloss is INSANE. It’s multidimensional and incredibly glittery, but it’s definitely wearable, and the color is flattering and pretty. Plus it smells really good. It would be a nice nighttime “going out” gloss, I think. I didn’t manage to get any pictures that capture the level of sparkle or complexity. Boo on my crap photography!

Another item that came in that sampler set was Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense lipstick in shade “WOW, That’s Frickin’ BRIGHT!!” I mean, shade 36. Um … I don’t really think it’s me.

It’s actually quite pretty, and surprisingly flattering considering how bright it is. It’s my first-ever MUFE product, and the formula is extremely nice. And it does coordinate well with the kick-ass Bell Jar t-shirt Jette got me for Christmas.

Too bad my necklace is flipped around in this photo. It was yet another Christmas gift, from my mom this time, and I love it. It looks more or less like this from the front, only more gray and less gold/green/whatever the hell color it seems to be reflecting here.

So! Speaking of makeup, did anybody have a temporary bout of complete insanity this morning and drop $92 on the new Urban Decay 15th anniversary 24/7 eyeliner set the instant it became available online? Because, um, I may have. What? Do you think I have no self control or something? Well, you’re right! Much like Oscar Wilde, I can resist anything except temptation. Also like Oscar Wilde, I have nothing to declare but my genius, but that’s a whole other post.

I am seriously into neutral eye colors these days. I don’t know why. I’ve never been hugely into brights, but I’ve gone crazy for neutrals all of a sudden. Taupes, beiges, reddish browns, coppery browns, very pale pinks and champagnes and off-whites, grays. Can’t get enough of them. I got 12 new (mostly neutral) eye shadows for Christmas, I have my Sephora cart all loaded up and ready to go with yet more, and my MAC favorites list is filled to the brim with subtle, gorgeous, glorious neutrals.

Man, I should have put on some lipstick! Anyway, I don’t know what the deal is with the neutral colors. I think part of it is that, as I get older, I’m less interested in “making a statement” with my makeup and more interested in flattering my features and skin tone. I’m also getting more concerned with the image that I present professionally: when I’m at work, I want people to focus on what I’m saying, not how I look. And these colors are perfect for professional, work-friendly, “grown-up” makeup looks. (Which is not to say that bold makeup can’t be professional and grown-up! There are a lot of things to take into consideration in terms of the makeup you wear at work: personal preference, the industry you’re in, possibly the dress code, and so on. Even where you live can have an influence.)

Here’s what I’m wearing!

UDPP in Eden

MAC Naked Lunch all over lids (thanks Mom!)

UD Roach in crease

UD Toasted above Roach to blend

MAC Dazzlelight to highlight

UD 24/7 eyeliner in Underground

Clinique High Impact mascara

These were almost all Christmas presents. The Urban Decay stuff was a gift to me from me, and my mom gave me the MAC stuff. Wheeee! New makeup!

Natural light:

With flash:

I know I’ve waxed rhapsodic about Underground eyeliner before, but I just have to reiterate that I freaking LOVE IT. It’s more subtle than black or even brown liner, and it’s just a unique and gorgeous color. I had a travel size of it before, but I got myself a full size for Christmas.

On a related note, were you aware that MAC Naked Lunch and Urban Decay Sell Out are almost perfect dupes? It’s a fact. Naked Lunch is just a tiny bit warmer and pinker, and Sell Out is slightly cooler and frostier. Otherwise, they’re practically indistinguishable pinky champagnes. I love them both!

Yes, Mister Principessa enjoyed Thanksgiving Episode IV: A New Pork Roast Recipe so much that he decided we needed to reprise it this weekend, presumably to help us bear up through the long, dark stretch of winter between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That might have seemed like a reasonable explanation, anyway, were it not gorgeously sunny and 80 degrees out today.

At any rate, I decided to wear the same dress I wore on Thanksgiving Episode IV, but sans layers and belt. It is WARM out, people. However, I decided to do different makeup this time around. I’ve been on a major Urban Decay kick of late, so I dragged some of my more neglected eyeshadows out for a little playtime. As a Christmas gift to me from me, I ordered a few new UD shadows (*cough*eightplustheAmmopalette*cough*), which are currently sitting in their little shipping boxes under the tree. Since there will soon be an influx of sexy newcomers to play with, I figured I’d better get to using the ones I already have, and quickly.

I have a couple of Urban Decay deluxe eyeshadows that I never wear because they seem somewhat … intimidating: Frigid and Freakshow. They’re actually similar colors, fairly intense purples with dark bases. Frigid has more of a blue tone to it (almost a duochrome effect–in fact, it’s rather like a much darker version of Asphyxia), and Freakshow is more pinkish. I’ve been playing with them both over the past couple of days, and it turns out that they’re much more wearable than I’d thought they’d be.

Here, I used Frigid as the main color. You can really see the blue tone in these next two photos.

Product breakdown!

UDPP

Urban Decay Asphyxia on inner 1/3 of lids

UD Frigid on outer 2/3 of lids and into crease

UD Freakshow in and slightly above crease

UD Sell Out to blend/highlight

UD Zero eyeliner on top lash line and smudged under lower lashes

UD lash primer

DiorShow mascara

Some ancient L’Oreal sheer lipstick that’s so old I probably shouldn’t be wearing it, but I am, because I’m gross like that

Yikes. I need a goddamn haircut. Good thing I’m getting one on Thursday. I’m trying to go in a short bob direction, but it’s currently leaning toward an unfortunate look that I refer to as Lady Senator Hair.

Note: Since it’s Thanksgiving Day in the US, I did one of those sappy “Things I Am Thankful For” entries today. If that kind of thing makes you roll your eyes, feel free to scroll to the end for pictures of me in a pretty dress and red lipstick.

I’m the kind of cheesy dork who tries to appreciate the small things in life. Part of why I like Thanksgiving (aside from the pie) is that it celebrates this kind of navel-gazing. It really lets you revel in gratefulness and humility, and it encourages you to spend some serious time thinking about your life and what’s awesome about it. Plus you get to eat until you can’t move and lie around watching The Twilight Zone all day. What could be better?

Thanksgiving 2010 has been pretty great so far. This morning I slept in. I get up just before 6:00 AM during the week, so sleeping in has become a bit of a luxury. This morning, I didn’t get out of bed until about 9:45. And it was GREAT. I love sleeping, and being in bed in general. It’s warm. It’s comfortable. It’s relaxing. And you know what are awesome? Pillows.

After we got up, the Mister and I took a walk. We live just a few blocks from the ocean, so we made some hot coffee, poured it into thermoses, and walked about a mile and a half down the beach. On the way back, we walked along Ocean Boulevard, which has some great old buildings (I’ll post pictures one of these days)–a green one called “The Empress,” an Art Deco one, a brick one that we refer to as “Toad Hall.”

Once we got home, I took a hot shower while the Mister made a second pot of coffee. I washed my face with Lush Buche de Noel (which smells delicious and is just a tad more moisturizing than Angels on Bare Skin–perfect for winter), and then used Haus of Gloi bubbling scrub in Parkin, which is like Christmas in a jar. It smells AMAZING. (ETA: I used it on my arms, not my face!) I like to ponder the coming day while I’m in the shower, so I thought about what was ahead of me today: cooking, eating, knitting, a phone call to my family in CO, probably a hot bath later. Post-shower, I took the pie I made last night out of the fridge to bring it up to room temperature, and then sat down to blog.

I have so many things to be grateful for today: A job that gives me holidays off and pays well enough that I don’t have to have a second one, which means I got to sleep in on Thanksgiving. A nice warm bed to sleep in, and a fabulous man (and a seriously obnoxious cat) to share it with. A quirky old apartment in a friendly neighborhood a stone’s throw from the largest ocean in the world. Access to a reliably hot shower and fancy-schmancy smelly products to use once I’m in there. A close relationship with my family, and the fact that we’re all healthy and happy. Enough money and leisure time to indulge in my hobbies pretty much at will. A computer and camera with which to create this blog entry and Internet access so I can post it. The list goes on.

My life isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and I’m sure that some people would be humiliated to live the way I do. No house? No children? No Lexus? No CABLE??? And you know what? To hell with them. I’ve had some tough times, but I’ve worked hard to build a life that I love, and there’s not much I would change about it. I’m so utterly fortunate. And I do my best to keep that in mind, even when–ESPECIALLY when–the going gets rough.

And finally, I’m so fortunate to have met you all through this blog. I don’t have a ton of readers, but hey–quality over quantity! Thank you for reading, even when I am a sucky inconsistent blogger. Please know that your support and comments mean a lot to me.

Holy sapballs, Batman! Let’s cut through the treacle with some clothes and makeup, shall we? Today I am wearing my new dress from Lucie Lu. (Sorry for the squinty pictures–it was bright out!)

It’s super comfy, although it’s a bit bigger through the bust than I’d like. I might take it in, I might not. The Mister thinks that it looks like lingerie. I think he’s full of poo. The dress is actually sleeveless; I’m wearing it over a short-sleeved top.

Outfit details–now with sizes! (I think it’s useful when people post sizes along with outfits–do you? And would you find it useful for me to post my physical stats? People usually do this on Fatshionista OOTD posts, and I find it really helpful.)

I did sort of pinup-inspired eyeliner and red lipstick today. The eyeliner is Urban Decay 24/7 in Crash, which is a gorgeous eggplanty purple with glitter. I really like it, but I always end up with glitter all over my face. I left these next two huge so you can see the glitter.

The lipstick is L’Oreal True Red mixed with a bit of Chocolate Truffle. I like my red lipsticks on the dark and brownish side, and it’s hard to find the exact right shade. So I usually have to mix a couple lipsticks together.

Labyrinth references FTW! I’ll come back to that. In other news, I wore makeup today!

I don’t wear makeup to work very frequently these days because of that jogging business I told you about. Mister Principessa and I get out of bed at 5:15 to jog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, which doesn’t leave me that much time to get ready for work. (I work early hours; being up at 5:15 and out the door by 6:30 means I’m home by 3:45. Sweeeeet.) Also, I heat up like a chubby little furnace when exercising, and it takes me a LONG time to cool down, stop sweating, and de-redden in the facial area. So the last thing I want to do after getting out of my post-jog shower is stand in a steamy bathroom in front of a foggy mirror and attempt to apply makeup to my sweaty, beet-red face.

However, I have two jog-free days per week, so sometimes I use that extra time in the morning to put on makeup. Like this morning, for instance! Fairly neutral, work-safe look here, but I ended up really liking it.

(Sorry for the lack of full-face photos, AGAIN. The Mister and I are still fiddling with the camera, and all the full-face pictures we took today made me look either super wide or, as he so tactfully put it, “like Gonzo.”)

Product breakdown:

UDPP

Urban Decay Sellout all over lids and in and above crease

Urban Decay Virgin to highlight (from Naked palette)

Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Underground on upper lids

Clinique High Impact mascara in black/brown

Apparently I was all about the Urban Decay today. And incidentally, Underground eyeliner is gorgeous and I love it. I ordered one of UD’s five-mini-eyeliner sets a while back, and this color was included. I hadn’t used it before today, and holy cow, I was missing out! It’s a beautiful metallic taupe sort of color, but it has an almost rosy cast to it as well. Very subtle and beautiful. I also like that it looks like a COLOR: I got Gunmetal eyeliner in that same set, and I just can’t get on board with it. It looks nice up close, but from a distance, it just looks like a crappy, low-pigment, fading black. Not good.

Anyway, I love Underground so much that I had to swatch it. Although I would like to note that its name makes me think of this song, which I had in my head all day today.

Indirect outdoor light:

Direct sunlight:

While we’re at it, let’s discuss my nail polish! It’s Revlon Matte Suede in Powder Puff (I also have this in Emerald City, which you may have noticed on my toes yesterday).

Bad news first: I don’t know that I’m crazy about this polish’s formula. It took four coats to get it reasonably opaque, and it’s still a bit streaky. Otherwise, I love it. The finish is gorgeous–check it out! This is in direct sunlight.

Mmmmm … satiny! And I think that the minimal amount of wear is impressive, considering that I painted my nails on either Sunday or Monday night, I type all day, and I didn’t use a top coat (I do NOT understand it when people use matte polishes and then add glossy top coats). Of course, the fact that the polish and the tips of my nails are both white goes some way to hide chipping, but still. I am the QUEEN of chippy, peely polish, and I’m impressed with how well this is holding up.